Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would move with might and power and deep conviction into our lives.
Father, your Son took on flesh, becoming fully human while remaining fully God.
He lived amongst us, and he died on the cross, and he died as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
And then he rose, Father, from the dead, triumphing over sin and over death and over hell itself.
And Father, we know that he did this not just to save us, but to reveal you.
So Father, help us not to treat with contempt that which your Son did at a great cost to himself.
So Father, we ask that you help us to know you, to love you, to know about you, to trust you, to know, Father, that there is but one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God but three persons,
that you desire us to know this for our great good and for our salvation.
So Father, do a wonderful work in our lives this morning, and we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Thank you.
So, eventually, when I talk to people, they find out I'm a Christian, and we end up getting into maybe, you know, often when they find out I'm a Christian, nothing happens at all.
They just, oh yeah, you're a Christian.
It's the same thing as, I don't know, you like the Ottawa Senators, and it just, excuse me, the conversation just moves on.
But sometimes, at some point in other words, they'll get into a bit of a conversation with me about some of the problems they have with the Christian idea of God.
And the most common problem they have with the Christian idea of God or the Christian teaching of God is, of course, the problem of evil.
How is it that there could be a God who's all-powerful and all-loving and there still be evil?
The other thing which they often will bring up is the whole doctrine of the Trinity, that the Trinity is, well, there's a variety of problems.
I'm not going to look at the problem of evil today.
I probably will talk about it when we either talk later on about God being all-powerful or God being love,
because those are some of the sermons that we'll be doing over the next few weeks.
But we will talk this morning about the idea that God is three persons but one God.
And people will tell me, George, this is a complicated idea.
It's illogical.
It's needless.
It's confusing.
One plus one plus one never adds up to one.
It just doesn't make any sense.
Why don't you make the idea a little bit simpler?
It just sounds, George, as if it's either the type of thing that maybe, you know, Constantine and the church hierarchy were doing some type of a power play,
so they came up with this idea for political reasons.
You know, either that or it's, you know, all these crazed, sex-starved monks coming up with crazy types of ideas.
And now you guys just continue to believe it.
It makes no sense.
You should make it simpler.
And there's a variety of other things like this, so that it might be that it's, in fact, an offense to God to say that any mere human being,
this would be what many of our Muslim friends, for instance, or Jewish friends would say to us,
that it's a profound offense and blasphemous, in fact, to actually even think that any human being could be God or would even claim to be God.
So why is it that Christians believe this?
Well, just very, very simply, it has nothing to do with Constantine.
It has nothing to do with politics in the Roman Empire.
It has nothing to do with the power of the church.
It has nothing to do with sex-crazed monks, nor does it have anything to do with just people wanting to be more complicated philosophers.
The entire reason we believe in the Trinity is because of Jesus.
Very, very simply, very, very plainly, it all comes back to Jesus.
And, in fact, actually, once you understand that it's because of Jesus that we had to put the Christians trying to understand,
just being really attentive to who he is and what he said and what he did,
that we come up with these other creeds and stuff that try to put some extra language around it.
It's all just really everything in the doctrine of the Trinity, in a sense, is tethered to Jesus,
is anchored by Jesus, and grows out of what Jesus taught.
So what I'd like to do, I'm going to do two sort of types of things this morning.
Hopefully, I have enough time to do both of them.
First of all, I want to sort of just give you three simple little things about Jesus that, in effect, if you get that,
there'd only be one other one that if we did another sermon on the Incarnation, you'd add a fourth one,
which I'll tell you after I've done the third one.
But basically, everything about the thinking of the Trinity comes out of these three simple things that Jesus taught and did.
And then the second part is we'll just reflect a little bit about why, actually,
rather than being illogical, irrational, and overly complicated,
it's actually profoundly good news for every one of us and worthy of meditation.
So what's the first thing?
The first one thing actually isn't very complicated or controversial.
Jesus taught that there is only one God.
Now, we're going to look, if you turn in your Bibles,
we're going to be looking at a lot of Bible verses this morning.
And actually, one of the things that we're going to do is this.
All of the texts, with sort of one exception at the end,
and then another little exception that you'll see in a moment,
I'm going to take all of my examples just from the Gospel of Mark.
In a sense, what I'm going to do is,
not that I'm trying to fight anybody,
but I'm going to tie, in a sense, as Christians,
we're going to tie both of our hands behind our back to defend this doctrine.
And why?
Because many of our friends,
there are many of our friends who completely and utterly would discount the Gospel of John.
They would say that the Gospel of John was written way too late,
and so it's obviously just an invention by people who no longer knew Jesus.
Now, I actually subscribe to a bit of a minority position among scholars.
I think there's really very good reasons to believe that every single thing in the New Testament
was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70,
and so that everything in the New Testament was not far too late for there to be still many eyewitnesses around.
But we're going to take that.
We won't talk about John.
And then there's many other people who say that, in fact, there was Jesus' teaching,
and then it very quickly got confused and perverted.
And the person who perverted the teaching of Jesus was this man by the name of Paul.
And so that if you could go back in time before Paul,
you'd see that Jesus didn't teach these types of things because Paul confused everything.
And by the same type of token, they'd say you can't look at Jude, you can't look at James,
you can't look at Hebrews, you can't look at either of the epistles by Peter.
And so what that leaves is that they'll sort of credit, often some of our credits,
Mark, Matthew, and Luke, but especially Mark, because just about everybody,
actually up until about 200 years ago, most people thought Matthew was the first Gospel that was written.
But for the last 200 years, even the most skeptical scholars probably think that the Gospel of Mark
was the very, very first biography of Jesus that was written, the very, very earliest.
And it's the briefest.
So what we're going to do is we're just going to look at Mark.
We're going to tie not only both of our hands behind our back,
we're going to tie up one foot so that we have to hop around and try to defend it.
If you're right-footed, on your left foot.
If you're left-footed, on your right foot.
And that's what we're going to do.
We're just going to look at Mark just to see, in fact,
if these three key ideas that the Trinity grows out of can be found in the Gospel of Mark.
The first, the earliest eyewitness testimony to what Jesus said and what he taught.
So the first idea is that Jesus taught that there's only one God.
Well, if you look at Mark chapter 12, verses 28 to 34, we'll see Jesus teach this very clearly.
We'll just look at one verse because it's not a controversial text, but I want you to see it.
And it goes like this.
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another.
That's Jesus and the scribes and the Pharisees.
And seeing that Jesus answered them well, he asked Jesus,
which commandment is the most important of all?
Which is the most important commandment?
And then Jesus answered.
And what he's about to answer, our Jewish friends will tell us,
that he answers with the Shema.
I don't know if I pronounced it correctly.
That's close enough.
The Shema.
And it is the central piece of Jewish thought about God.
It is the central, it is like their creed that there's only one God.
And Jesus said it's the most important commandment.
Listen to what he says.
The most important is,
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your strength.
And then Jesus adds a second one,
saying the second is this,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
And the scribe said to him,
You're right, teacher.
You have truly said that he is one and that there is no other beside him.
And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding,
with all the strength,
and to love one's neighbor as oneself
is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
So Jesus very clearly accepted the Jewish creed that there is only one God.
Now, the second thing is that Jesus taught and modeled that,
but just by the way here,
you're going to now notice some differences between how I summarize my point
and what's on the screen.
And the reason is,
is that one of the ways I do my sermons when there's an 8 and 10 o'clock
is I create an email that gives the points to people.
And then to help refresh myself,
I write the points down by hand in my book.
It's a way to help me remember the flow of the talk.
I forgot my phone at home,
so I have no email.
So I'm using an earlier version of my points,
but my words will be very similar to the words which are up there.
But here's the second one.
That Jesus taught that he is different from the Father.
Or another way to put it,
is that the Father and Jesus are not the same.
That's what Jesus taught,
and he modeled it many, many, many times.
I'm just going to give you two particular examples.
So if you look at Mark chapter 14, verses 32 to 36,
this is a very poignant scene.
Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and he knows that he's going to be captured very soon by soldiers,
and he knows that he's going to be convicted falsely,
and he knows he's going to die on the cross,
and he knows all of these things.
And so, you know, here this is actually a really important type of testimony
because it captures Jesus at his most vulnerable and his most fragile,
and see how he talks.
And they went to a place called Gethsemane,
and Jesus said to his disciples,
Sit here while I pray.
And he took with him Peter and James and John
and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
And he said to them,
My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
Remain here and watch.
And going a little farther,
he fell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible,
the hour might pass from him.
Here, listen to this.
And he said,
Abba, Father,
all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me,
yet not what I will,
but what you will.
Very clearly, he's talking to his father, Abba.
And it's a very different...
He's obviously talking to a different person.
He's not saying he's the same as the father.
This becomes also very clear
if you just sort of turn your page
in most of your Bibles
and look at Mark chapter 15,
verses 33 to 34.
And now we see Jesus hanging on the cross,
and he's dying.
And here's what he says.
And when the sixth hour had come,
there was darkness over the whole land
until the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour,
Jesus cried with a loud voice,
Eloi, Eloi,
Lema sabachthani,
which means,
My God,
my God,
why have you forsaken me?
Very clearly,
he's talking to God.
He's not talking to himself.
He's saying that God
has forsaken him.
He's making a very clear distinction
between him and God.
So here's how we've seen so far.
Jesus teaches very clearly
that there is only one God.
And he teaches very clearly
that he is not the Father,
that the Father and him
are different.
But here now,
there's a third pillar,
the third anchor point,
so to speak,
of the doctrine,
out of which,
which tethers the doctrine,
of which the doctrine
of the Trinity grows out of,
is that Jesus taught
that he is God,
the Son of God.
That Jesus taught
that he is God,
the Son of God.
Now,
at this point in time,
often when I say this to people,
they go,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
time out.
And many people
who might not know
very much about the Bible
know this one thing,
especially when it comes to this.
They'll say,
but didn't Jesus say
that the Father
is greater than him?
Therefore,
he can't be God.
Didn't Jesus say that?
Now,
it's very interesting
because often
the very same people
who will tell me
you can't trust
the Gospel of John
or et cetera, et cetera,
what they actually do
is they quote John to me.
So if they quote John to you,
something like that,
you'll say,
well, okay,
whoa, whoa, whoa,
that's a good point.
Let's look at it.
But actually,
what they've actually
just allowed you
to tell them
is dynamite
that blows up
their position.
If you turn
in your Bibles
to John chapter 14,
John chapter 14,
verses 28 to 33,
we'll see
where Jesus says this.
And actually,
if you go back,
I mean,
John's Gospel
is just filled
with teaching
about Jesus being God.
And John chapter 14
and 15 and 16 and 17,
this is Jesus speaking
in the upper room
to his disciples.
Once again,
he knows that he's
going to be captured
that evening.
He knows he's going
to die on the cross
the next day.
And so it's a very
intimate final words
that Jesus has
with his disciples.
But listen to
what it says here.
You heard me say
to you,
I am going away
and I will come to you.
If you loved me,
you would have rejoiced
because I am going
to the Father
for the Father
is greater than I.
And now I have told you
before it takes place
so that it was
take place,
you may believe.
I will no longer
talk much with you
for the ruler
of this world
is coming.
He has no claim
on me,
but I do
as the Father
has commanded me
so that the world
may know
that I love the Father.
Rise,
let us go from here.
Now,
here's the dynamite
in the text.
In fact,
you might want to talk,
put it up on the screen,
is that Jesus
is teaching here
that he and the Father
have the same nature.
Now,
this is not often
seen by us,
but I,
many of you know,
if you don't know,
I'm about to tell you,
I have nine children.
I can only father
human beings.
I didn't father
nine children,
three puppy dogs,
two cats,
and five guppies.
A member of our congregation,
a couple in our congregation,
Laurie and Andrea,
just this week
gave birth
to a healthy baby girl.
Woo-hoo!
And we all knew
that whatever was going
to come out of
Andrea's womb
was going to be human
because humans
beget humans.
Cats,
cats,
dogs,
guppies,
guppies.
That's just the way it is.
Whatever I beget
is going to be
of the same nature of me.
So actually,
all of those times
in the New Testament
where God calls,
like those earlier things,
Abba,
Father,
where he's talking
to his father,
he's making a claim
that God and him
have the same nature.
Now,
usually those objecting
to this,
at this point in time,
they don't quite know
what to say
because they thought
they had the
mic drop moment.
They made their point,
they drop it,
and we move on.
But this is the first
of several pieces
of evidence
that Jesus,
in fact,
this is from John,
but other people
usually bring this up.
I don't have to bring
it up myself.
But let's go back
to Mark.
So the first part
of three is
that Jesus taught
that he and the Father
have the same nature.
The next one is
that Jesus acted
as only God can act
with demons and sickness.
go back to the Gospel
of Mark
and we'll see
just an example
of each of them
that are very,
very simple.
Mark 1,
verses 25 to 26.
There's a person
with a demon,
but Jesus rebuked him
saying,
be silent
and come out of him.
And the unclean spirit,
the demon,
convulsing the man
and crying out
with a loud voice,
came out of him.
And if you just sort of
look down to Mark
chapter 1,
verses 41 to 42,
we'll see here
Jesus dealing with
somebody who is sick,
who has leprosy.
Moved with pity,
Jesus stretched out
his hand and touched
him and said to him,
I will be clean.
He's been asked
to heal him.
I will be clean.
And immediately
the leprosy left him
and he was made clean.
Now once again,
this doesn't seem
like much,
but it's something
that only God can do.
You and I
have all prayed
that somebody
would be healed.
And what we in a sense
are expecting
is that I say,
Father or Jesus,
please heal this person.
And what we're hoping
is that in a sense
the Father,
Jesus hears it
and Jesus doesn't,
the Father doesn't say,
okay, well I'm going
to get the right medicine
or I'm going to ask
somebody else to do it.
No, what does the Father do?
He says,
demon be gone.
He says,
be healed.
So you see here,
Jesus doesn't pray.
He acts exactly like God,
but he doesn't sort of
play act like God.
He acts like God
and what only God
can do happens.
The demon is gone.
The leprosy is gone
by a simple act
of Jesus' will.
Then we also see
that Jesus forgives sin,
but only God
can forgive sin.
It's a bit of a longer text,
but if you look at Mark 2,
verses 1 to 12,
we see this.
Jesus forgives sin,
but only God
can forgive sin.
Here's how the text goes.
Actually,
if we skip down
clear to verse 5.
So basically,
there's a,
you know,
they're all in a room
hearing Jesus teach.
They want to bring,
their friends want to bring
this man to be healed.
They can't get through,
so they make a hole
in the roof.
They drop the man through.
And here we take it up,
the story at verse 5.
And when Jesus saw their faith,
he said to the paralytic,
Son,
your sins are forgiven.
Son,
your sins are forgiven.
Jesus has never met
this man before.
This young man
has done nothing
against Jesus.
Only one person
can only,
I can't come up and say,
I forgive you
of all your sins.
You'd go,
what?
You can't forgive?
That's just,
that's what crazy people say.
You know,
that's what the people
who mutter to themselves
and wear the same clothes
for five weeks in a row
and wander the streets
of downtown Ottawa,
they say things like that.
Not somebody like this.
You can't just say,
I forgive your sins.
I might be able
to forgive Chris
if he does something to me.
Daniel might be able
to forgive me
if I do something to Daniel.
But no human being
can just get up
and forgive the sins
of another person.
That's only something
God can do.
And that's what Jesus says here.
Look at it again,
verse 6, 5,
Son, your sins are forgiven.
Now some of the scribes,
verse 6,
were sitting there
questioning their hearts.
Why does this man
speak like that?
He is blaspheming.
Who can forgive sins
but God alone?
And immediately,
Jesus, perceiving in his spirit
that they questioned
within themselves,
said to them,
Why do you question
these things in your heart?
Which is easier to say
to the paralytic,
your sons are forgiven,
or to say,
rise,
take up your bed and walk?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man,
that is Jesus,
has authority on earth
to forgive sins.
He said to the paralytic,
I say to you,
rise,
pick up your bed
and go home.
And the young man rose
and immediately picked up
his bed
and went out before them
so that they were all amazed
and glorified God,
saying,
We have never seen
anything like this.
Now, obviously,
there's no logical connection
between being able
to heal somebody
and forgive sin.
but there's a very profound
spiritual,
theological,
and philosophical
connection to it.
Because once again,
we see that Jesus does
what only God can do.
Only God can say,
Paralysis,
be gone.
Health,
replace what was causing
the paralysis.
I bestow it.
Only God can do that.
And in fact,
you can't actually
necessarily tell
whether or not
God has forgiven your sins.
That's in a sense
an invisible thing.
But this is a very visible thing
and it's obviously
a very, very good test
that it vindicates
and validates
what Jesus says.
I mean,
at the end of the day,
the reason that
there are any Christians
in the world
is because the death
of Jesus upon the cross
in fulfillment
of centuries
of prophecies,
in fulfillment
of centuries
of preparation
in terms of
sacrifices
and topology
and prophecies
and poetry
and wisdom
and all of this
and also in the context
of Jesus saying
that he's going to die
in a particular way
and he's going to rise
on the third day
and Jesus' death
upon his cross
and his resurrection,
the resurrection
vindicates
what Jesus says.
It vindicates
who he is.
It vindicates
his teaching.
And this,
in a sense,
is just giving us
a bit of a foretaste
that God,
the Son of God,
Jesus is going
to do something
to vindicate
all of our trust
in his words
and in his work.
And what we clearly
see here
is that Jesus claims
to be able
to forgive sins,
something that only
God can do.
And fourthly,
God instituted
the Sabbath
and its rules.
Very clear.
You read the Old Testament,
what our Jewish friends
call the Torah
or the Tanakh.
God creates
the Sabbath,
God institutes it,
God sets the rules.
What does Jesus do?
He says he is
the Lord of the Sabbath
and can change
the rules.
Only God can do that.
Only God.
Look at it,
it's Mark chapter 4
verses 27 to 28.
Mark chapter 4
verses 27 to 28.
Maybe I have
the wrong text
which would just be
very, very, very...
Mark 2, sorry,
I can't read
my own writing.
Mark chapter 2
verses 27 to 28.
And it goes like this.
And he said to them,
they're having a debate
about what Jesus'
disciples were doing,
and Jesus said to them,
the Sabbath was made
for man,
not man for the Sabbath.
So the Son of Man,
referring to himself,
is Lord,
even of the Sabbath.
He takes the prerogative
of God
in terms of the Sabbath.
Jesus acted like
only God can act
when he stilled the storm.
Jesus acted like
only God can act
when he stilled the storm.
Look at Mark chapter 4
verses 39 to 41.
They're in a storm
with the disciples.
It's a terrible,
terrible storm.
They think they're all
going to die.
And in verse 39,
and he awoke
and rebuked the wind
and said to the sea,
peace,
be still.
And the wind ceased
and there was
a great calm.
And he said to them,
why are you so afraid?
Have you still no faith?
And they were filled
with great fear
and said to one another,
who then is this
that even the wind
and the sea obey him?
Only God
can speak to the wind
and tell it to stop
and it stops.
To take the waves,
even if all the wind
and all the current
all of a sudden
was to die,
those of you
who've been on water
know that it takes
a long time
for the waves
to be still.
Only God
can actually tell
the wind to stop
and the waves to stop
and for there
to be calm.
Jesus didn't pray
that God would do it,
he merely said it
and it happened.
Only God
can do that.
Jesus claimed
that he would rule
from God's throne.
Jesus claimed
that he would rule
from God's throne.
Mark chapter 14
verses 61 to 64.
Mark 14
verses 61 to 64.
Now this is also
very significant
because he also does,
first of all,
he's doing this
while he's under oath
and he's on trial
for his life
and he's under oath
and hear how he responds.
So they say to him,
verse 61,
but he remained silent
and made no answer.
Again,
the high priest said,
are you the Christ,
the son of the blessed?
Because they were
devout Jews,
they're not going to say
the divine name,
they're actually saying
in a sense,
are you the son of Yahweh?
And back then,
our culture
is completely
and utterly confused
about what it means
to be a human being.
And that's
a whole other sermon
that ultimately
goes back
for the arguments
in favor of abortion
that ultimately
make us all now
very confused
about what a human being is
or what a human being isn't,
what a person is
and what a person isn't.
Jewish people weren't,
they understood
that if he was
the son of the blessed one,
he is God.
And they asked him
that directly.
And Jesus said,
and here,
if you go back
to the book of Exodus,
in chapter three,
where God reveals himself,
he reveals himself
as I am.
And if you read
the Greek version
of the Hebrew text,
you see that Jesus says
that he is,
I am.
He says,
I am God
to them
in question
as to whether he is
the son of the blessed one.
He says,
I am.
And then to emphasize
that he said,
and you will see
the son of man
seated at the right hand
of the power
and coming with the clouds
on high of heaven.
And here,
it doesn't sort of mean
like,
you know,
right now,
Daniel's,
you guys are all,
you know,
you folks over here
are sitting at my right,
but I'm obviously,
no, no, no, no.
The picture is
of a co-regent
of a very,
very big throne.
And that in fact
that there's God
on a throne
and right on the throne
with him
at his right hand
is Jesus.
So he pronounces
the divine name.
He says,
I am,
I am God.
And he says,
I'm actually,
you're going to see me.
I will be sitting
on God's throne
with God.
And how do they respond?
And the high priest
tore his garments
and said,
what further witnesses
do we need?
You have heard
his blasphemy.
What is your decision?
And they all
condemned him
as deserving
death.
Jesus claimed
that he was God,
that he would rule
from God's throne.
And finally,
and I'm going to leave
Mark
for the first time,
look at the last text,
Jesus accepted
people's worship
as he taught
the Trinity.
Jesus accepted
people's worship
as he taught
the Trinity.
Look at Matthew
chapter 28
verses 17 to 20.
So I've gone away
from Mark,
but I've gone to
another one
that even skeptics
will acknowledge.
In fact,
actually up until
about the year 1800,
this was viewed
as the earliest text.
But around the 1800s
it started to move
towards being Mark.
And here's what it is.
It's after the
resurrection of Jesus.
He's died.
He's risen from the dead.
Verse 17,
And when they saw him,
they worshipped him,
but some doubted.
Now just sort of
pause here about this.
It's an accurate
translation,
but it's a little bit
misleading.
Now,
I've been speaking
for 27 minutes.
I don't know how many
have I put to sleep.
I'm not asking for a test,
but I'm sure I've put
some of you to sleep.
I don't know how many
of you were worshipping.
Why?
Because in a sense,
whatever worshipping
you're doing is going on
behind your eyeballs
and in your heart.
But that's not what
he's referring to
because then how would
he know whether
anybody's worshipping him?
What they mean is,
they fall on their face
prostrate.
They do FaceTime
in front of Jesus.
That's what the word
worship here means.
It's not only
bowing low,
but actually on the ground.
They're,
think,
on the ground.
And the doubted
is that there's
some of them there,
they're not,
like,
should it be like this?
Should I stand?
Like,
that's the doubting.
Like,
what do you do?
Do you go full face
worship?
So that's what they're seeing.
If you were there
with a time machine,
you went back in time
with a time machine,
you'd see Jesus appear
to all of these disciples
after he's risen
from the dead.
bang,
huge number of them
right on their face
worshiping him.
And Jesus doesn't rebuke them.
You go look at the book of Acts.
There's a time in the book of Acts
where Paul and Barnabas,
Paul performs a mighty miracle,
and all of a sudden
in the local dialect,
they said,
good grief,
the gods have come down
and they go
and they get their pagan priest
and they come and want to start
offering sacrifices
to Paul and Barnabas.
And Paul and Barnabas
run and say,
no,
no.
You have to leave
all these idols.
I'm not God.
Don't worship me.
But here Jesus accepts it.
And then listen to what he does
in the context of accepting worship.
Verse 18,
And Jesus came and said to them,
All authority in heaven
and on earth
has been given to me.
Go therefore
and make disciples
of all nations,
baptizing them.
Here's the key.
In the name,
singular.
Not in the names
of the Father
and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
but in the name,
singular.
And for Jewish
and Christian thought,
the name represents
identity.
It represents,
in a sense,
the whole person,
the whole nature
and person of God.
And so,
in a sense,
when he says,
in the name,
singular,
of the Father
and the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
we see here
in microcosm
the building blocks
of all of the creeds
on the doctrine
of the Trinity.
There is but one God
who exists
as three persons,
Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.
All in the context
of receiving worship,
the claim of all authority
in heaven and earth
being given to him.
And then you continue on,
verse 20,
teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you
as if he is God.
And then this,
and behold,
I am with you
always to the ends
of the age.
Only God can be omnipresent.
Why do Christians
believe in the Trinity?
It's not because
of sexed,
crazed,
incel-type monks
or Constantine
having a power play.
It's all because
of Jesus.
And if you just add
a fourth thing
that Jesus was fully human,
if I was to do
a fourth thing,
which I don't have time for,
and it just showed
how he was tired,
he cried,
he slept,
he had to eat,
all those types of things,
you'd have all
of the building blocks
of all of the doctrine
of the Trinity
and the Incarnation.
And the whole history
of people who doubt it
or try to go into heresy
are all people
who lose track
of these things
and can't account
for Jesus.
And I've just used Mark.
Didn't even go into
Matthew, Luke,
John, Paul,
Hebrews.
Just Mark.
So here's the thing
that's very,
very important.
The doctrine
is tethered to Jesus,
it's anchored in Jesus,
it grows from Jesus.
It's really just merely
trying to honor Jesus
and what he taught.
And here's the thing
with all of these teachings.
What you cannot say
after hearing this,
in this argument,
most people think
it goes back
to C.S. Lewis,
but Lewis learned it
from Athanasius
1,700 some odd years ago.
What you cannot say
after hearing this
is that Jesus was
merely a prophet
or a good man.
Because we would all agree
that if in fact
Jesus knew
that this was not true,
then he's a liar.
He's not a good man.
He's a deceiver.
He cannot be a prophet.
He cannot be a good man.
He cannot be
a trustworthy teacher.
He is a liar
and a deceiver.
And he deserves
whatever punishment
he gets.
I got a scamming
phone message
the other day
claiming that I had
to give information
about my bank account
and I text in the back,
I hope you all
go to jail.
That was my response.
I hope you all
go to jail.
And you all think,
way to go.
I'm going to do that too.
Like that's the thing to do.
The other thing is,
and we all,
we come to downtown Ottawa,
you go wandering around,
you're going to see
lots of crazy people
who think that
there are all sorts
of crazy things,
who hear from God,
who are God.
So Jesus either
thinks he's God
and he isn't,
and then he's a crazy man.
And you know what?
Nobody should worship
a crazy man.
A crazy man needs help.
Or he's a liar.
The only other option is,
and this is what
Christians believe,
is that it's all true,
that he is in fact
the Lord.
That God himself
has come into
his creation
to do what only God
can do
to make himself known
and to redeem
human beings.
But some of you
might say,
George,
that's still so complicated
and all of that
type of stuff.
Like, you know,
George, okay,
those are all
very interesting points
and I can sort of
see how it is
that you Christians
think this,
but George,
come on,
good grief,
compared to just
some other religions
that just very clearly
teach that there's
only one God
or other types
of religions
that teach that
all things are God.
I mean,
those are just,
they're simple,
they're more plausible,
they're obviously
more likely to be true.
Well,
that's true.
They are vastly
more plausible
to be true.
But here's the problem,
and it's a very big problem.
This,
my wife and I,
we married when we were 13
and so coming up in the fall
we'll be married 40 years.
That's how we managed
to be our young age
and still be married
for such a long time.
And if you,
if you ask my wife
if she really fully
understands me,
she'd say,
no.
Some things I understand,
but there's things
about George
that are just a mystery.
Like,
I just,
I still haven't figured
these things out
about George.
And,
you know,
we all know what it's like
to try to even just
understand another human being.
Or actually even
understanding ourselves.
Like,
very,
very shallow people
think they understand
themselves.
But once you actually
get going,
like,
you realize there's
just complexities
in any human being
that we don't really
understand ourselves.
And I,
and I'm,
I've been living
with myself
for a long time.
And I've been,
you know,
with,
I've known Louise
a long,
long time
and I,
I still don't
fully understand her.
I can't get my mind
completely around her.
The only way
that I could get my mind
completely around her
is if I'm more
than human.
But you see,
that's exactly
the type of false
step we're taking
with God.
You see,
if God
is easy
to understand,
it means
he can't be God.
it means
that he's less
than a human being.
We can have
a pretty good
understanding
of a leaf.
Leaf is way less
than a human being.
Or a bug,
way less than
a human being.
But we can't have
a very good understanding
of even a creature
the same as us,
a person.
Only someone
greater
than a human
could have
the knowledge
of a human
the way we have
the knowledge
of a bug.
And so if we claim
that we have
that knowledge of God,
you know what
that's actually showing?
It's showing
that that understanding
of God
cannot possibly
be true.
I don't mean
to offend,
but it cannot
possibly be true.
Your conception
of God
is of a being
less than you,
not greater,
no matter how much
you add worship
to it.
And out of all
of the systems
of philosophy,
out of all
of the systems
of theology,
out of all
of the ideologies,
and out of all
of the religions,
there is only
one option
that portrays
God
as something
greater than
our mind.
In fact,
there's only
one teacher,
only one faith,
that is even
remotely
in the correct
direction
that if there
is a God,
what that God
must be like.
Now, of course,
this doesn't prove
the Christian
conception of God
is correct,
but there's no
other alternatives.
alternatives.
There are no
other alternatives.
Next week in the
blog, I'll give you
a suggestion of
some books to
help you understand
the doctrine of
the Trinity,
but you can at
least see that
while this idea
of plausibility
is very plausible
to us,
hence its
plausibility,
it in fact is a
witness against
us that those
other conceptions
of God cannot
possibly be true.
There has to be
something about
understanding a
being who is
infinitely greater
than you,
because if you
think about it
for a second,
the difference
between you and
a leaf is a
finite difference.
The difference
between you and
a bug is a
finite distance.
The distance
between you and
God is an
infinite distance.
And so it is
that there must
be, that isn't
that the doctrine
of the Trinity
is irrational,
but it's actually
opening up to
the idea that
God in fact is
vastly greater
than you,
that it's as
if you were in
a subterranean
cavern and
they bring you
into a cavern
and all you
have is your
cell phone and
you can't even
use the flashlight
thing, all you
can do is turn
it on and all
you can do is
get the tiniest
little bit of
an idea,
but you just
have a sense
from that and
from the sound
that you are in
a huge space.
And occasionally
if you look,
you see things
that are wonderful
and beautiful and
you'd be filled
with awe and
filled with fear
because you're
in a tiny
light in a
huge space
and that is
exactly what it's
like with us
with God.
Our minds are
tiny and God
is vast and
he reveals true
truth to us even
though it in a
sense is far
bigger than our
minds.
I need to draw
this to a close,
but this is really
important good news.
The final point,
only God can
reveal himself and
only God can
provide the way
to himself.
If you think
about it for a
second,
if you sit
beside,
after church
you try to
have a conversation
with somebody
and they refuse
to even talk
to you,
even look at you,
even answer any
of your questions,
you can't know
them.
You need that
other person to
reveal something
about themselves
for you to know
them.
And so it is
with God.
Unless God
reveals himself,
we cannot know
him.
And at the same
time,
that only God,
if there is this
infinite God,
the only way who
can provide a way
towards God,
to God,
has to be God
himself.
It can't come
from a prophet
or philosophy
or technology
or technique
or spirituality.
It has to come
from God
or it can't
possibly be real.
Only the infinite
can provide a way
for the finite
to connect
to the infinite.
And that's what
we hear with
Jesus about
the gospel.
And it's not
just,
I mean,
here's the thing,
I mean,
things about this,
which I've run
out of time,
but they're so
precious.
Nothing grounds
the dignity
of human being
more than
the doctrine
of the Trinity
and this idea
that God,
the Son of God,
took on flesh
and lived amongst
us.
To understand
that God himself
could take into
himself our human
nature,
that he would walk
amongst us,
gives us most
profound dignity
to every human
being that we
could meet.
It doesn't matter
if they're from
China or from
Africa,
from North America,
it doesn't matter
if they're from
the far north,
from the Middle East,
that every God,
the Son of God,
took on flesh
and walked amongst
us and every
human being then
has this profound
dignity as a
result of the
doctrine of the
incarnation.
And that we see
that God didn't
just sort of reveal
himself in a way
that only smart
people can understand
or that only very
poetic and subtle
people can understand,
but just as a
young child
gets a true
sense of a human
being,
you can read even
the youngest child
stories about
Jesus and they
can start to
understand and
know him.
And even the
youngest child,
in fact,
young children have
an easier time of
understanding that
God loved you so
much that he came
to seek you and
find you and die
on the cross to
make you his child
because he loves
you and that is a
story that even
the simplest child
can understand,
but the most
profound mystic
intellectual poet,
musician will
never exhaust,
but will also
understand.
And God does
not just sort of
reveal himself in
a way that he
can stand back
aloof, but he
comes among us
in the midst of
our mess and he
comes amongst us
in the midst of
our mess not to
condemn us, but to
die on the cross
and to provide a
way, the way,
by which we could
return to him.
You know, there
have been many
people, and I'm
not taking plot
shots, this is a
common thing about
all over the
world, but I'm
sure there are
many low-wage
workers in
North America
and many small
business owners in
North America who
wonder if high-paid
bureaucrats and
politicians effortlessly
make decisions about
lockdowns and throw
them out of work and
put their business out
of business.
And they wonder if
these people know
what it's like to be a
low-wage worker.
Do they know what
it's like to be a
small business owner?
And they have very
good reasons to ask
that question.
But only in the
gospel do we know
that God knows what
it's like for you to
be a human being.
He is not a God
aloof from your
mess.
He came in the
midst of human
mess.
And he will come in
the midst of your
mess.
He died bearing
your mess for
your mess so
that you could
be the adopted
child of God
when you put your
faith in Christ.
He comes in to
know us so that
we might know God.
Let's stand.
Bow our heads in
prayer.
Father, we confess
before you that we
just very casually
think that our
minds and our
minds formed by our
culture is the
measure of all
things.
And if you don't
meet the criteria of
our mind that
somehow that's your
problem, Father, we
don't even recognize
our profound pride
and arrogance.
And so, Father, we
thank you for your
word.
We thank you,
Father, that we have
a chance to gather
around your world and
to be confronted about
our pride and our
arrogance.
And we ask, Lord, that
you would humble us,
that you would humble
us, that we would
acknowledge that you,
if you are God, if
there really is one
answer in our prayer,
that you have to be
vastly greater than
us.
You have to be one that
our mind can't fully
understand, that we
can only get bits and
glimpses that you
give to us, that that
has to be what is
real.
And, Father, we give
you thanks and praise
that you don't just
merely give us pieces
of information in the
abstract, but that you
came and walked
amongst us, that you
revealed yourself so
that we would know
you, that we would
know that you have
provided a way, even in
the midst of our mess,
that you will be our
God, that you would be
our Father, that Jesus
would be our Savior, that
the Holy Spirit would
indwell us, that we
would have a hope of
heaven, a hope of glory,
a hope of a future,
that you have revealed
yourself in such a way
that we know that when
we put our faith and
trust in Jesus, that you
will never let us go,
that you will never
forsake us, that you
will never mock us, that
you will never shame us,
that you will never
deride us, that you
only become our Savior
to save us and to fit us
from heaven, to do what
we cannot do that only you
can do.
Father, we ask that you
would fill us with a
great comfort and great
confidence and trust in
Jesus, and a great,
great confidence that there
is but one God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit,
three persons, one God,
forever and ever.
Amen.